Disgust and Anger doesn’t even cover how this should make us all feel –

Disgust and Anger doesn’t even cover how this should make us all feel – Oxfam released a report today that should make us all disgusted, angry, it should make us all wake up at the very least. The argument for a wealth tax gets stronger and stronger every day but would require all countries to agree.

We know that poverty kills, we know that here in Scotland and we know it in the UK. We are also told that the UK is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, it is, but that wealth is hoarded by a few very wealthy families or individuals. Last year the Marie Curie Charity reported that 90,000 people die as a result of poverty in the UK every year. They found that working people were more at risk of dying in poverty than those over 65 with young parents most at risk. That should shame every politician in our colony and the UK, but it doesn’t. If it did we would see real action on poverty.

Oxfam found that “The richest 1 percent grabbed nearly two-thirds of all new wealth worth $42 trillion created since 2020, almost twice as much money as the bottom 99 percent of the world’s population, at the same time, at least 1.7 billion workers now live in countries where inflation is outpacing wages, and over 820 million people —roughly one in ten people on Earth— are going hungry. Women and girls often eat least and last and makeup nearly 60 percent of the world’s hungry population.

The report also goes on to say that over the last forty years, governments across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas have slashed the income tax rates on the richest. At the same time, they have upped taxes on goods and services, which fall disproportionately on the poorest people and exacerbate gender inequality. I can honestly say that growing up and living much of my life in Scotland I have both experienced poverty, and been surrounded by it, my working career to date has also been about working with young people living in and experiencing that same poverty I did. That fact does make me feel angry, and ashamed at our colonial status, and to those who voted no out of nothing more than self-interest, they are as complicit as every unionist Government we have had imposed on us for this state of affairs, especially the scumbag Tories.

Hate is a horrible word but I hate the Tories, and I am pretty close to actually hating the Red Tories too because both have shown nothing but contempt for Scotland my whole life. Poverty is a political choice, not a personal one that any of us make. Poverty is forced on us via low wages, job insecurity, and cost of living, but for me, it is down to greed and selfishness. You can also throw in political ignorance, fear, and I’m all right jack the Tory mantra which has also become the bible of the Tories and Labour since at least 79 and the destruction started by Thatcher and bought into by so many in our colony. Own your own home, have the latest gadgets, and get your kids everything that you are told they need. All supported by the media, and by the psychological tactics used by companies in how they sell us stuff, mostly stuff we don’t need, but we think we do and it all adds to our poverty.

The BBC reported today an online poll of 4,187 UK adults by Savanta Comres for BBC News, Morning Live and Rip Off Britain was carried out on 4-6 January. It found that more than eight in 10 of those asked were worried about the rising cost of living, with some losing sleep over it.

But it suggests people are finding different ways to cut costs to pay their bills. A majority of respondents have been turning the heating down and lights off, or reducing their grocery shop.

We should not be living like this, while the wealthiest are getting so wealthy you would need a Ph.D. in maths to count it none of our political parties have the guts to challenge this disgraceful state of affairs. What we get in the colonies is to bow and worship your new King, work more hours, turn off the heating, and go to a food bank. If you get sick, just go ahead and die if you don’t have private medical insurance.

Independence is not just about democracy anymore, it is about our survival as a people the way things are going. The fact that we are further away than we have ever been should condemn the SNP to never-ending shame, especially Sturgeon, but like the Tories and Labour, it doesn’t.

I am 54 years old now, and I am lucky I still have a job. I am not afraid for myself, I’ll crack on as best I can as I have more years behind me than ahead of me, but I do fear for my kids, and I do fear for all those who will face even more hardship than I did. We are running out of time, we need good governance, we need to start fighting back, and stop listening to the people attacking the unions and striking workers, we need to stop listening to those people attacking the poor. We really do need to wake up, if we don’t, many of us will just die.

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